Saturday, June 9, 2012

The Return of the Reagan Democrats!

 
realclearpolitics.com ^ | June 8, 2012 | Robert Tracinski



Scott Walker beat the spread.

Sometime politics is like betting on football. It's not just about whether your team wins. It's about whether you beat the spread. The rough calculation going into Tuesday's recall election in Wisconsin was that if Governor Scott Walker won by less than five percentage points, the race would not have any clear national-level implications, but if he won by five points or more, it would. The final result, 53.2% to 46.3%, is a margin of 6.9 percentage points. He beat the spread...

But we are finally reaching the Thatcher Line: the point at which the government runs out of other people's money. Europe has gone over that line already—Greece maxed out Germany's credit card—and now we are approaching it...

Wisconsin is the bellwether for that cultural-political shift, but it is not the only example. Two less-heralded votes on Tuesday were held in California, where voters in San Diego and San Jose—hardly bastions of conservatism—approved referendums cutting back on benefits for government employees. In San Jose, the measure was approved by a 70%-30% margin...

The result is that the Blue Dog Caucus in the House has been reduced from 54 members after the 2008 election to 26 after the 2010 election, and after November, it may be winnowed down to as few as 10 congressmen.

Paul Ryan summed up the trend after the 2010 election, and events are bearing him out: "Reagan Democrats are becoming Reagan Democrats again." Democrats who are not adherents of the socialist hard left are becoming appalled at the out-of-control growth of government, and they will support any politician who has the will and the courage to rein it in.

You tell me if Barack Obama qualifies. And since he doesn't, that is why the result in Wisconsin!

(Excerpt) Read more at realclearpolitics.com ...

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